BISHOP BANDON B. PORTER

SECRETARY, GENERAL BOARD

Bishop Brandon Burdett Porter, an accomplished pastor, author, singer, songwriter, and evangelist, has extensively traveled this nation, sharing the Word of God with God’s people. He possesses a rich legacy as a fourth-generation member of the Church Of God In Christ. Bishop Porter is the son of the late Supervisor Ida M. Porter and the late Bishop W.L. Porter, who founded Greater Community Temple COGIC in Memphis, TN, and was also the establishmentarian and organizing prelate of the Tennessee Central Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction in 1981, headquartered in Jackson, TN. Bishop Brandon B. Porter is also the grandson of the late Elder George T. Flagg, who pastored in Arkansas.

His rich heritage is rivaled only by his love for and dedication to the church. For decades, Bishop Brandon B. Porter has consistently served the Church Of God In Christ in numerous capacities, starting with his introduction to the ministry while still very young. He accepted his call to preach in 1976 and was ordained an elder in 1978 by the late Presiding Bishop J.O. Patterson, Sr. That year, he became the assistant pastor of Greater Allen Avenue COGIC in Jackson, Tennessee, and in 1981, he was appointed pastor of Greater Victory Temple, also in Jackson. He became the Jackson district superintendent in 1986. In 1991, his father resigned from the pastorate and appointed him as the leader and pastor of the now-historic Greater Community Temple COGIC in North Memphis. Under Bishop Brandon B. Porter’s leadership, the membership of Greater Community Temple COGIC has flourished to over 5,000, and the church has expanded to include an additional campus located in East Memphis.

Continuing to follow in his father’s footsteps, Bishop Brandon B. Porter has held numerous positions within the Church Of God In Christ on all levels (local, district, jurisdictional, and national). These positions include vice chairman of the National Trustee Board, president of the International Youth Department, national director of Public Relations and Marketing, executive producer of the COGIC Today TV show, and coordinator of Christmas in November. In 2009, he succeeded his father by becoming the Jurisdictional Prelate of the Tennessee Central Jurisdiction of the Church Of God In Christ. In November 2012, during the 105th Annual Holy Convocation in St. Louis, Missouri, he was elected to the Presidium of the Church Of God In Christ, becoming a member of the General Board – the highest executive and administrative board within the Church Of God In Christ, consisting of twelve elected bishops, including the Presiding Bishop. He was re-elected to the General in November of 2016 and again in March of 2021, where he was appointed to the lofty office of General Board Secretary. Bishop Porter is the second jurisdictional Bishop in the history of the COGIC to follow in the footsteps of his father and ascend to the Presidium and become a member of the General Board.

An anointed, passionate preacher and motivational speaker with a dynamic message of spiritual empowerment and family enrichment for practical living, Bishop Brandon B. Porter can be heard by millions weekly via television, radio, and the World Wide Web. He is also an inspired writer, touching thousands with his transforming books: A Reason to Keep Going, It’s Time to Be Filled, In His Likeness, You Have Been Planted, and Speaking Life. Though he has extensive ecclesiastical responsibilities, Bishop Brandon B. Porter still manages to spend quality time with his wife First Lady Melody G. Porter, their two sons, Brandon II, his wife Jalesa, Bryson and his wife Kristen, and the joys of his life: His granddaughter Braxton IdaMarie and Grandsons Boston Bishop and Brevin Burdett.